Nearly 20 top-performing Kent secondary schools are set to lose their ‘Outstanding’ titles – after Ofsted introduced a new system for grading schools. The practice of issuing an overall one or two-word grade – either Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, or Inadequate has been scrapped with immediate effect. Ofsted will continue to inspect schools, but will now only issue gradings related to individual aspects of a school’s performance. As of July 31, 495 schools in England had achieved the highest possible rating of “Outstanding” at their last Ofsted inspection. That includes 19 schools in Kent – two in Medway and 17 across the rest of the county. Four of those schools were graded Outstanding at inspections carried out during the last school year.
It means 17 per cent of schools in Kent and 11 per cent in Medway had been graded Outstanding. However, all those Outstanding gradings will now be lost after the schools’ next inspections. For future inspections this academic year, parents will see grades across the existing sub-categories: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. Ofsted will continue to inspect schools against the same standards, but will now only issue gradings related to individual aspects of a school’s performance.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “The need for Ofsted reform to drive high and rising standards for all our children in every school is overwhelmingly clear. The removal of headline grades is a generational reform and a landmark moment for children, parents and teachers. Single-headline grades are low information for parents and high stakes for schools. Parents deserve a much clearer, much broader picture of how schools are performing – that’s what our report cards will provide.
“This Government will make inspection a more powerful, more transparent tool for driving school improvement. We promised change and now we are delivering.” The changes come after several years of debate within education about whether one overall grade can sum up the complexity of a school. That debate intensified after an inquest in 2023 found an inspection contributed to the death of head teacher Ruth Perry, who took her own life after learning her school was set to be graded Inadequate.
The Department for Education said the old system did not give a fair assessment of schools and was only supported “by a minority of parents and teachers”. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Headteachers, said: “We have been clear that simplistic one-word judgments are harmful and we are pleased the Government has taken swift action to remove them.
“We are equally pleased that the Government intends to place a stronger emphasis on supporting schools to improve where they need help, rather than defaulting to heavy-handed intervention or knee-jerk changes of governance structures.”
The Kent schools rated Outstanding Inspections during the last school year:
• Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School – 19/9/2023
• Invicta Grammar School, Maidstone – 16/4/2024
• Bennett Memorial Diocesan School, Tunbridge Wells – 13/12/2023
• Mayfield Grammar School, Gravesend – 30/4/2024
Inspections earlier than September 2023:
• Dover Grammar School for Girls – 14/11/2013
• Maidstone Grammar School for Girls – 7/3/2023
• The Judd School, Tonbridge – 6/5/2015
• Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys, Canterbury – 13/11/2013
• Wilmington Academy, Wilmington – 4/5/2023
• Dartford Grammar School – 6/12/2022
• Highworth Grammar School, Ashford – 13/6/2013
• Tonbridge Grammar School – 16/10/2019
• Gravesend Grammar School – 25/6/2015
• The Harvey Grammar School, Folkestone – 16/3/2016
• St Gregory’s Catholic School, Tunbridge Wells – 15/10/2013
• Dartford Grammar School for Girls – 21/6/2016
• School of Science and Technology Maidstone – 24/1/2023
• Fort Pitt Grammar School, Chatham – 4/10/2022
• Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School, Rochester – 21/3/2023